Tuesday, June 26, 2012

We may have this in the news feed somewhere — I can never keep up — but it needs to be repeated. It needs to be shouted from the rooftops:

After decades of controversy, debate and false starts, a memorial to the Bomber Command crews of World War II will finally be dedicated in London. Queen Elizabeth will lead the official party, and Britons should be thankful she has enjoyed such a long reign. Given the political correctness that affects certain members of the Royal Family (paging Prince Charles) one wonders if the next monarch would show up for such a lightning-rod event.

Hard to believe, but sixty-seven years after the last Lancaster returned from the final bombing mission of World War II, there is outrage over the notion of honoring the crews who took the war to the German homeland…

He talks about the addled and dangerous (my description) revisionists who have done their work so well

among the major elements of the British armed forces that fought in World War II, Bomber Command is the only one that was never honored with a campaign medal; its most famous leader (Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris) was denied post-war honors and the memorial comes decades after others were dedicated.

Damned tossers are in charge and they’re killing history. Kinda like Islam does…the same thing is happening in this country and Obama has made it worse, even vetoing Congressional approval of the Purple Heart for those soldiers slaughtered at Fort Hood. He “plays” to his own Leftist base, and base it is. But his weasel word is not the final one by far. There are too many people determined to see justice done.

Go over to see the picture of that Bomber Memorial. Brits have probably already seen it in The Telegraph...

I'm with Former Spook on this one: I’m glad the Queen is still here to do this. Though I am also optimistic about her grandsons, too. Wanker Dad? Not so much. Anyone whose idea of a paean to love is a fervent wish to be Camilla’s tampon should be ruled unfit to rule his own croquet green, never mind the whole country.

I hope Londoners with long memories pay attention to this dedication. It really is one of those “wish I could be there” moments.

15
comments:

Anonymous
said...

At the recent European Championship Football Final between Chelsea and Bayern Munich the Chelsea fans sang 'there's only one 'Bomber Harris'' when Didier Drogba scored for Chelsea. Just to let the locals (the match was played in Munich) know we haven't forgotten the War !!

i get a little angry when i hear germans and their appologist friends in the UK harping on about the bombing of Dresden etc.they forget that their beloved fuhrer was the cause of it and they elected him knowing that he was aiming to exterminate the jews, avenge the 1918 armistice and seek revenge against the "november criminals" who signed it.which clearly meant war with france, genocide and domestic repression at the very least.the boys of bomber command did a grand job.did the u-bout men?are they villified in germany?

I knew it was only a matter of time before the radical left would villianize WWII vets.As usual...Europe takes the lead. America is sure to follow.They may have a harder time of it here....at least for a while. It takes time for revisionist history to take hold.One should take care and guard your country's true history as best as you can.

I knew it was only a matter of time before the radical left would villianize WWII vets.As usual...Europe takes the lead. America is sure to follow.They may have a harder time of it here....at least for a while. It takes time for revisionist history to take hold.One should take care and guard your country's true history as best as you can.

I don't know if you can say that the German public voted Hitler in - he was manouvred into power at the end of the day, although the Nazi party had received votes, so that's half true at best.

It's not entirely clear that the German public knew he was going to "exterminate" the Jews eithe - although he certainly said plenty against them, and after Kristallnacht in particular everyone knew the Jews were in a tough spot.

It is an interesting question: what did the average German citizen know as the Nazis assumed power, and during their reign?

Of course as you note internal dissidents were banged up in Dachau right quick, so if you thought Hitler was a bad egg, giving voice to that opinion could get you a ticket to one of the early camps.

So even if you knew, and even if you disagreed, could you really say something? Remember what happened to Hans and Sophie Scholl, and the other members of the White Rose.

Here's something about the Nazis which you might find interesting - Working towards the Fuhrer. The idea is that the Nazis started off from a base of evil, but their policies became more and more radical as time went on - and there were no brakes on the system, so there was no going backwards. (But the idea that from day one, the "final solution" was envisioned is questionable.)

Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris was made Marshal of the RAF in 1946 and was also made a Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath. In 1953, Churchill bestowed a baronetcy upon him, so his efforts did not go unrewarded.

The thing about the bomber campaign was that the British side of it was explicitly aimed at civilians. Area bombardment of cities was supposed to undermine German morale and thus hasten the end of the war. It didn't come anywhere near working.

Max Hasting's excellent book "Armageddon" describes the last several months of WW2, from Sept. 1944 to May 1945. The city bombing campaign achieved nothing remotely proportionate to the cost to the British in lives and treasure, or to the cost in moral capital that goes with burning and blowing up women and children. This can sometimes be a regrettable byproduct of war, but to take it as the main goal cannot be justified unless there's just no other way to win and unless losing means they'll kill you all. Britain wasn't in any such fix in 1944.

Arthur Harris peddled a war strategy that was militarily unproductive and morally distasteful. He should not be honored. The aircrews did their duty, and in war, one must obey lawful orders. Their courage and devotion to duty can be noted, but what their work achieved ought not be celebrated.

Anonymous 7:56. While the RAF were bombing German cities and manufacturing bases, as well as airfields by night, the Americans were doing it by day. It was on 24/7 and it was implemented to weaken German resistance while destroying their manufacturing base.

You have forgotten or didn't know? That the Germans during this time were sending their own mass destructive weapons onto British cities in the form of the V2 and V1 flying bombs. Thousands of Brits were killed in this way while the SS were murdering civilians in their hundreds of thousands and mopping up those who chose to resist their murderous tyranny.

This was total war which Goebbels had called for and Hitler had implemented. The allies were fighting a fanatical enemy who were largely in favor of fighting to the death.

When you are faced with such an enemy who values death over dishonor, then all you have to do to win, is to oblige them!

Bomber Harris deserves all his awards and so do the men who flew on his orders!

Dymphna....interesting that you raise the issue of 'Prince Chuck' becoming King.

Australia is a constitutional monarchy, same as Canada and New Zealand. Therefore each nation recognizes the Queen of Great Britain as their own 'constitutional monarch', although we generally recognize her as the individual monarch of each nation. Complicated? You bet!

She has no legal or political power in any nation, even her own, however, she is generally recognized by a large percentage of the population of all involved nations as an institution, because of her longevity on the throne.

So it becomes interesting that when polls are held to gauge the public's reaction to certain topical subjects such as Prince Chuck becoming King of Great Britain, which would automatically make him King of Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the polls reflect a large percentage of those not in favor of him becoming King.

Earlier today, the Queen dedicated a memorial to the men of Bomber Command in Green Park, London. All morning, the BBC have been reminding us of the number of German civilians killed by the bombers. This is the form:

"55,000 men of Bomber Command were killed - but THEY killed 600,000 German civilians"

Beware of falling into the trap of escalating violence, often found in honor cultures (you know , those with laws "an eye for an eye" found at semitic populations - ancient chaldeans, assyrians, babylonians, arameans - and not only semitic).So, one should answer with violence no more then inflicted upon him (as a generally rule; in special cases, when superior reasons so argue, it could be done otherwise).

Bomber Harris was ruthless and caused much misery the last two years of the war in many countries beside Germany. All over the place, they bombed from high altitudes at any target they fancy, killing thousands of civilians and gained almost nothing. In Norway, many raids was put up agains a uboat bunker in Bergen. They finally gave up bombing the thick bunker and Harris decided to just bomb the infrastructure around the bunker in the second biggest city of Norway! More than 1400 bombs was dropped from 3-4000 meters, raining all over a dense populated area, killing many civilians. One bomb hit a school, killing 64 children.This had no impact on the germans, other than the fact that they had to help civilians.

I think this was one of countless of raids ordered by Harris, that made him and his force very unpopular both in england and the rest of europe.